Korean Korenizatsiia and Its Socialist Construction 63SOVIET CITIZENSHIP
Koreans began to acquire Soviet citizenship in greater numbers around 1926.
The mea sures adopted by Dalkraiispolkom (the local executive leadership)
gave them quite a bit of leeway to decide who would receive it. At the same
time, the local government was inclined to grant Soviet citizenship in or-
der to harness Korean labor. Korean productivity helped local bureaucrats
fulfill the Soviet plan, that is, meet state- planned production goals and
quotas.^50 Meeting these quotas enabled those bureaucrats to receive perks
and promotions. In 1914, 20,109 Koreans (one- third) were tsarist subjects,
while 44,200 remained foreign subjects. In 1923, things had improved,
but not im mensely: 34,559 (32 percent) were Soviet Koreans while 72,258
(68 percent) remained without citizenship.^51 In 1923, the prerequisites for
Koreans to become Soviet citizens were: membership in the Communist
Party (Soviet); documented proof of formerly having been partisans; proof
of status as professionals, man ag ers, or Koreans registered on their own
land.^52 The 1926 census showed a substantial increase of Soviet Korean
citizens, with 84,931 citizens out of a total Korean population of 168,009
(50 percent).^53 In that census year, the RFE began a collectivization pro-
gram that formed Korean, Rus sian, and Chinese villages into collective
Figure 3. Comrade Ian Sin Tszi.
Tszi (who was Chinese) won a Soviet
production efficiency award for his
work in a metal foundry, circa 1930.
Source: Krasnoe znamia, June 3, 1930,
no. 124(29): 3.